IAS trainees tour Sri Lanka; get lessons on Colombo’s ‘womb to tomb" policy

Sigiriya rock paintings, Sri Lanka

LAST month, a group of 34 IAS officer trainees went to Sri Lanka on a study tour. Among others, they were explained how Colombo Municipal Council cares for any Colombo citizen from "Womb to Tomb". As officer-trainees crisscrossed the island nation between March 25 and March 29, 2013, the Indian government banned…
Sri Lankan players from playing IPL matches in Chennai after people of Tamil Nadu raised their voices against the alleged atrocities of Tamils by the Sri Lankan forces.
One of the officers L Haokip raised queries on Colombo’s “Womb to Tomb" policy. But the officers did appreciate the health care measures taken by the administration to mothers-to-be. As Haokip wrote, Sri Lankan officers had explained how a deceased person's tomb in Colombo is well-maintained with precautionary measures to ensure that there are no health hazards there. Haokip wrote in Manipur’s E-Pao: “Womb to tomb caring is an exotic message we can only forget to carry home at our own peril.” The officer trainees were also impressed by the hospitality of the Sri Lankan staff working in Colombo’s Taj Samudra hotel.
They had a bus trip to Kandy, a town located 120 km away from Colombo. On their way to Kandy, they visited an Elephant orphanage where there was a talk on nurturing orphaned elephants, making of paper out of elephant waste etc.
They officer-trainees also met Ashok Kantha, India’s High Commissioner in Colombo. As Haokip wrote in the article, there was a presentation of projects which India had taken up in Sri Lanka. Groups such as Ashok Leyland, Bharti, Maruti and Tata Motors have a visible presence in the island nation.
The officers also travelled in 120 km-long Chinese-built coastal highway from Colombo to Galle.